Seagate 2nd Generation Momentus XT (750GB) Hybrid HDD Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 13, 2011 12:51 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
- Seagate
- Momentus XT
- Hybrid Drive
- HDDs
- SSHDs
Desktop Iometer Performance
Our raw Iometer tests don't really give the Momentus XT's NAND cache much of a chance to do anything. Random and sequential performance are both average compared to the hard drives we have here. In the case of uncached random access performance the Momentus XT performs no differently than a standard 7200 RPM 2.5" drive, which is to say not very well. This is arguably the biggest reason to go with an SSD if you can. Although the Momentus XT does amazingly well with relatively little NAND, anything that falls out of that 8GB cache is accessed very slowly compared to an SSD where the experience is more consistent.
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kyuu - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Yes, I saw this directly stated by a Seagate rep somewhere. I'm much too lazy at the moment to go hunting for it or another confirmation.Rest assured, if the SLC fails before the platter portion for some reason, the drive will work just fine as a regular drive minus the NAND caching.
Blaze-Senpai - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
I'd be more worried about the platter-portion of the drive failing first, to be honest.axisofevil35 - Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - link
Ok so it's 750GB 7200RPM Momentus XT.... when can we BUY a 1TB 7200RPM Momentus XT model?kyuu - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - link
Whenever they release the next model. Hopefully they will come out with new XT models on a more regular basis (there was a pretty long hiatus between the previous XT and this one), but who knows.We'll likely see a 1GB+ Barracuda XT hybrid before then, though.
Arbie - Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - link
I strongly considered a Momentus when they came out, probably based on Anandtech's remarks, but user reports on various forums killed that idea. Sorry to spread FUD, which it is at this point since I don't have any links, but at the time there was no end of bad news. If you're considering one of these, find out what you can on reliability first.
golob - Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - link
I'd be really curious how the Momentus XT drives compare to a z68-based SSD-cache--just to get a sense of the performance of the caching algorithms from Seagate and Intel respectively.Toughbook - Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - link
I picked up the 1st gen while trying to decide on a SSD to buy. At the time I had a main stream Hitachi 320GB running in my laptop. I could not notice a difference at all between the two. It was very loud and produced more heat as well. Obviously users of this drive are looking for more performance than a regular HDD. If one were to shop around and spend roughly $100.00 more you can get a Samsung 470 256GB. It will blow this drive away of course, plus the reliability is ten fold. Seagate better watch there pricing as SSD's are going down in cost almost weekly.adamantinepiggy - Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - link
Since a striped array is spreading out the read/swrites, the data from/to each drive is smaller and probably fit in the small NAND cache better. Just guessing..Revdarian - Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - link
Just wanted to cheer Anandtech as this is still the best site for real storage reviews.You guys have no problem in finding the proper target for your reviews, be it professional or casual use and all inbetween, and after doing so you produce a proper review for the specific target.
CHEERS!
Proph3T08 - Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - link
When you recommend desktop users get a SSD and an HDD are you recommending that people set up the SSD for caching the HDD or leave the two drive completely separate?If we are to set up SSD caching which SSD size would be best for that?